The architecture of humanism; a study in the history of taste

60 THE

ARCHITECTURE

OF

HUMANISM

combined.

Literature

is an art

which

deals pre-

ponderatingly

with

'

expression.'

Its

appeal

ismade

through theindirect

element.

Its

emphasisandits

value

liechieflyin

thesignificance,

themeaning

and

the

associations ofthe

sounds which

constitute its

direct

material. Architecture,

conversely,

is anart

which affects

us chiefly by

direct appeal. Its

emphasisanditsvaluelie

chieflyinmaterial

andthat

abstract

dispositionofmaterial

whichwecallform.

Neitherintheonecasenor

intheotheris

themethod

wholly

simple. Meresoundin

poetryisanimmedi-

ate

elementin itseffect. And some

visualimpres-

sionsinarchitecture

areboundupalmostinextricably

withelementsof

'

significance' :

as,forexample,the

sight

of darkness with the notion of gloom,

or of

unbrokensurfaceswith

thenotionofrepose. Never-

theless,thedirectelementsofpoetry

—^itssoundand

form

—arevaluablechieflyasmeanstothesignificance.

They

areemployedtoconveyrefinementsofmeaning,

or to awaken trains of

association, of

which mere

unassisted syntax is incapable. They enrich or

sharpen our idea. The

sounds delight

us because,

inthem,thesenseisheightened ;

andformalrhyme,

by linking onephrase with another, addsafurther

intricacy of suggestion. But the merely formal,

merelysensuousvaluesofpoetryarefullyexperienced

whenwereadapoeminanunknown

language;